Odisha targets 20 per cent electric vehicles on road by 2025

Odisha government has approved a new policy on electric vehicles. It was approved by the state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar. The new policy is aimed at achieving a target of 20 percent electric vehicles on road by 2025.The policy sets an ambitious target of ensuring that at least twenty vehicles out of each hundred that would be registered in the state would be battery operated electric vehicles by 2025. The stated aim of the policy is to contribute to the reduction of global temperature which in turn is contributed by fossil fuel driven vehicular emissions.
Under the proposed policy guidelines, it has also been decided to extend financial incentives that includes interest subvention in loans taken to purchase electric vehicles and waiving off of road tax and registration fees during the policy period to the manufacturers and users of electric vehicles. The objectives of the policy are to not only push for EV adoption but also to promote the manufacturing of electric vehicles and their components including batteries in the state,  This will encourage innovation and facilitate research and development in the areas related to EVs and batteries.

The policy guidelines also include extended financial incentives such as incentives available for manufacturing industries, stimulus on purchase and scrapping, interest subvention in loans, waiver of road tax and registration fees during the policy period.  According to a Niti Aayog report, Odisha has a total fleet of 4,831 electric vehicles on road. Due to the low density of EVs, the state has only 18 charging stations at present. Neighbouring states like Bihar and Chhattisgarh have a higher electric vehicle density of 26,469 and 5,969 respectively.